THE LARCHES: AN EARLY DIALOGUE
The Larches is a conversational piece with lifelike
talk and discussion between Socrates and two generals: Nicias and Laches and
their friends Lysimachus and Melesias. Lysimachus and Melesias have come to see
the generals to ask their advice on the best education for their young sons.
Socrates passes by and is invited in to the conversation.
The verbal technique becomes clear almost at once.
Lysimachus asks Socrates first whether in his opinion boys should learn to fight
in armoured combat. Socrates immediately asks Nicias for his view. Nicias
argues in favour on the following grounds:
it is a healthy activity
- it is a healthy activity
- it is appropriate for free citizens unlike slaves
and good preparation for fighting in battle
- it will give the boys an interest in leading troops
into battle and in generalship
- a knowledge of armed combat will make the boys
braver in battle.
Laches then speaks and disagrees. His points are
these:
- if it was a true accomplishment it would be worth
studying
- the Athenian teachers of martial arts are all afraid
of Sparta and Spartans so they are likely to prove of limited value.
- Laches has seen an expert fight and he used a new
weapon and made a fool of himself.
- if the person who learns armed combat is a coward in
the first place they will just become foolhardy. If they are brave to begin
with they will be an object of jealousy and people will be looking for a
mistake.
Lysimachus asks Socrates to decide between the two
points of view. Socrates replies by asking Lysimachus whether he is going to
follow the majority view (encourage the boys to learn martial arts) or not.
Then turning to Melesias he asks 'Suppose you were taking advice about the sort
of exercises your son should be performing to prepare himself for a competition;
would you take guidance from the majority of us or from that one person who
should happen to have been trained by and have exercised under a good trainer?'
Of course Melesias agrees with the second point of view.
This is a favourite stratagem of Socrates: to oppose
the irrational habit of following the crowd in a given situation with the
reasonableness of relying on expert knowledge.
You should now think of other situations where
people sometimes follow the crowd rather than get expert advice.